Climate Change Resilience
The Marshall Islands celebrated World Water Day with a wide range of activities on 21 March this year, opened by President H.E Christopher J. Loeak who recognised the challenges small island states face in ensuring there is sufficient safe water.
"Although water security is a global challenge, some parts of the world are more vulnerable than others. As with most small island states, the natural freshwater resources of the Marshall Islands are severely limited. While this is not a new concept, climate change exacerbates the problem," stated President Loeak.
His statement set the scene for a day that aimed to highlight the actions undertaken in the Marshall Islands to help address this vulnerability with demonstrations of water quality testing, solar powered reverse osmosis units and solar water purifiers.
The one day event was also an opportunity to learn from school students who shared presentations on water conservation and the water cycle. All those that attended were also gifted with a free reusable water bottle to discourage waste.
School involvement in commemorating World Water Day continued throughout the week with a a Water Quality and Monitoring training workshop for school teachers and a few selected parents and students.
"Hearing from our future generation and drawing in strong community involvement was a major highlight for the special day. We can't emphasise enough the importance of wise water usage to benefit us all here on the Marshall Islands," said Ms. Moriana Phillip, Technical Officer for SPREP based in the Marshall Islands.
Schoolchildren receiving free comic books from USAID
"This was an amazing day bringing together a range of partners with our local communities to celebrate water and commemorate the actions we have on the ground to ensure we have access to safe water. It was an excellent opportunity to showcase the cooperation efforts on the ground between government agencies, NGO's and development partners."
750 million people around the world lack access to safe water that is approximately one in nine people. In the Marshall Islands, work under the Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change Project (PACC) is to ensure that local communities do have access to safe water through the purchase of over 168 solar panels and 56 solar pumps. Making a difference in homes across the Marshall Islands these are now reported to provide between 30 to 40 litres (roughly 10 gallons per day) of drinkable water daily for households.
These purifiers produce clean drinking water from seawater, contaminated groundwater or any other source of non-potable water. The solar panels capture the sun's energy and use it to evaporate the water which leaves behind the contaminants such as salt or bacteria.
PACC water purifiers on demonstration
The PACC programme has demonstration projects in 14 Pacific island countries, focusing on three key climate-sensitive sectors – water resources, food security, and coastal zone management. The Programme is funded by the Global Environment Facility and the Australian Government, with support from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Climate Change Capacity Development (C3D+). The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) is the implementing partner, and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) acts as implementing agency.
The organising committee for the World Water Day celebrations consisted of the Government ministries/agencies, USAID (IOM), Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL), College of the Marshall islands -Land Grant, Red Cross and SPREP.
"Although water security is a global challenge, some parts of the world are more vulnerable than others. As with most small island states, the natural freshwater resources of the Marshall Islands are severely limited. While this is not a new concept, climate change exacerbates the problem," stated President Loeak.
President H.E Christopher J. Loeak on left with SPREP Technical Officer in the Marshall Islands,
Ms. Moriana Phillip second from right.
Ms. Moriana Phillip second from right.
His statement set the scene for a day that aimed to highlight the actions undertaken in the Marshall Islands to help address this vulnerability with demonstrations of water quality testing, solar powered reverse osmosis units and solar water purifiers.
The one day event was also an opportunity to learn from school students who shared presentations on water conservation and the water cycle. All those that attended were also gifted with a free reusable water bottle to discourage waste.
School involvement in commemorating World Water Day continued throughout the week with a a Water Quality and Monitoring training workshop for school teachers and a few selected parents and students.
"Hearing from our future generation and drawing in strong community involvement was a major highlight for the special day. We can't emphasise enough the importance of wise water usage to benefit us all here on the Marshall Islands," said Ms. Moriana Phillip, Technical Officer for SPREP based in the Marshall Islands.
Schoolchildren receiving free comic books from USAID"This was an amazing day bringing together a range of partners with our local communities to celebrate water and commemorate the actions we have on the ground to ensure we have access to safe water. It was an excellent opportunity to showcase the cooperation efforts on the ground between government agencies, NGO's and development partners."
750 million people around the world lack access to safe water that is approximately one in nine people. In the Marshall Islands, work under the Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change Project (PACC) is to ensure that local communities do have access to safe water through the purchase of over 168 solar panels and 56 solar pumps. Making a difference in homes across the Marshall Islands these are now reported to provide between 30 to 40 litres (roughly 10 gallons per day) of drinkable water daily for households.
These purifiers produce clean drinking water from seawater, contaminated groundwater or any other source of non-potable water. The solar panels capture the sun's energy and use it to evaporate the water which leaves behind the contaminants such as salt or bacteria.
PACC water purifiers on demonstration The PACC programme has demonstration projects in 14 Pacific island countries, focusing on three key climate-sensitive sectors – water resources, food security, and coastal zone management. The Programme is funded by the Global Environment Facility and the Australian Government, with support from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Climate Change Capacity Development (C3D+). The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) is the implementing partner, and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) acts as implementing agency.
The organising committee for the World Water Day celebrations consisted of the Government ministries/agencies, USAID (IOM), Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL), College of the Marshall islands -Land Grant, Red Cross and SPREP.